Rand Fitzpatrick

Current

Associate Director, Search and Data Services at AT&T Interactive (formerly YellowPages.com)

Past

Program and Product Manager at MusicIP
Project Manager and General Manager at Bitscribe
Research Associate at USC Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Center

Science + Technology Coordinator at Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum
Science + Technology Coordinator at Perkins + Will
Lead Designer at Techne Consulting

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Education

University of Southern California

Recommended

10 people have recommended Rand

Connections

251 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

Rand Fitzpatrick’s Summary

I am passionate about information and interaction. From French to Ruby, linguistics to game theory, and API design to UI development, interacting information systems inspire me.

Brevity and clarity are high art forms, and simplicity should be well respected. The acts of design, optimization and management should be acts of simplification, removing of obstacles and facilitation of communication.

Throughout my professional and personal life, I continue to learn, to strive for excellence, and to apply a constant cycle of reflection and review upon my experience in order to improve what I do.

Here are a few of my core principles that I use in guiding projects and products through conception, development and release.

• You can't know how effective you're being if you don't know what your goals are. - It is critical to understand how to define requirements in the domain of the client, and to be able map those requirements to the technical execution process. Real metrics are the way to drive change.

• Change is the only constant. Knowing how to adapt is the key to successful projects. - It is important to understand the likely sources of change, to build variability into the scope of a project, and to control the outcome.

• Multidisciplinary excellence is the road to true happiness. - Being able to communicate effectively and with native competence in the creative, technical and business realms is central to managing a modern product.

• Focused design is incredibly effective. - Attention is finite, for both developers and users. Keeping an application focused on its most salient elements will deliver a more effective and compelling product.

Rand Fitzpatrick’s Specialties:

Technologies: Ruby, Python, Solr, Lucene, Javascript, XHTML, CSS, PHP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Linux, OS X, Lua, C, C++, Java

Domains: Enterprise Software Design, Research & Development Organizations, Visual Design, Sustainability, Brand/Identity Marketing

Additional Fields: Cognitive Science, Game Theory

Other: Capoeira, Muay Thai, Trapeze, Parkour

Rand Fitzpatrick’s Experience

Associate Director, Search and Data Services

AT&T Interactive (formerly YellowPages.com)

(Public Company; T; Internet industry)

November 2008 — Present (9 months)

Responsible for leading the design and implementation of new geo/social-relevance based search engine for ATTi's local search properties. Utilizing FAST, Solr Lucene, and custom data evaluation technologies to move the state of search architecture forward into new levels of user relevance and performance.
Program and Product Manager

MusicIP

(Computer Software industry)

November 2007 — November 2008 (1 year 1 month)

Management of the product team, leading design and implementation of multi-product portfolio, spanning web, desktop and embedded markets. Product design includes technical solution design and interface and usability design to mesh closely with market and client needs.
Project Manager and General Manager

Bitscribe

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

2006 — November 2007 (1 year)

Management of design and development for complex enterprise applications developed in Rails and PHP.

Responsible for client-interface, domain modeling and process guidance in maintaining agile relationships.

Management of internal and external staff, finances and business processes.
Research Associate

USC Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Center

(Research industry)

2005 — 2007 (2 years)

Analysis, correction and processing of fMRI experimental output, generating time-based models of neurological response to visual stimuli. Additional software design support provided.
Science + Technology Coordinator

Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum

(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Design industry)

2004 — 2006 (2 years)

Responsible for the planning and acquisition phases of new work capture in the Science + Technology division for the Western region. Managed teams of designers and engineers to establish project approaches and conceptual plans in response to client requests.
Science + Technology Coordinator

Perkins + Will

(Partnership; 51-200 employees; Architecture & Planning industry)

2002 — 2004 (2 years)
Lead Designer

Techne Consulting

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

1999 — 2001 (2 years)

Software design consulting ranging from custom video conferencing applications in Java to e-Commerce platforms.

Rand Fitzpatrick’s Education

University of Southern California

1997 — 2001

Activities and Societies:

Resident Honors Program, Merrill Physics Scholarship, Presidential Scholarship, VP Society of Physics Students, Board Member Academic Honors Council, Captain Fencing Team (Sabre)

Additional Information

Rand Fitzpatrick’s Websites:

Rand Fitzpatrick’s Interests:

cognitive science, complex information systems, sustainable design, software defined radio, computational linguistics, simplicity, physics, chemistry, neuroscience, capoeira, trapeze, fencing